Free Officers Movement

The Free Officers Movement was a group of nationalist officers in the armed forces of Egypt and the Sudan that instigated the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. The Free Officers Movement was established in 1945 as a cell within the Muslim Brotherhood, and it was led by Mohammed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The movement sought to end 70 years of British rule in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and Naguib, despite having joined the movement four years after it was formed, rose to become its leader due to his status as a war hero from the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. The movement was supported by the middle class, young workers, government officials, and junior officers, and the movement opposed British imperialism and the pro-West monarchist government. In 1952, the officers overthrew the government of King Farouk I of Egypt, and Nasser became the new head of state of Egypt.